How to use は in Japanese Clear and Simple

は in Japanese is a particle which tells you what you are talking about. In other words, は tells you what the topic of a sentence is. This particle is pronounced wa in Japanese even though it uses the character は which is pronounced ha in Japanese.

In Japanese grammar, は is one of if not the most poorly understood parts of Japanese. For good reason too, as English does not have a word for it. There is not a direct translation for は. Sometimes you can translate it as,

as for ~
speaking of ~
talking about ~
the ~

Whatever you decide to translate it into just remember that it has two main purposes. One is to tell you what the topic of the sentence is. Two, it compares things to each other or contrasts them from the rest of the sentence. To understand this better let’s take a look below.

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INDEX

What is a Topic?

The particle は is called a Topic marker and tells you what you are talking about. If I am describing my house then the house would be the Topic and everything I say about it would be its description. If I said it had a blue roof, it was old, it was in the woods, then all of that would be a description and the house would be the Topic.

When do you use は?

は is used to refer to things that are part of a listeners general knowledge

Things that are already Introduced

The English word the tells you that you are talking about something that was already introduced. は tells you the same thing.

昨日きのうある男おとこを見みた
I saw a man yesterday

その男は黒くろい帽子ぼうしを被かぶっていた
The man had on a black hat

So, you can think of は like the in these situations.

Unique Things and Proper Nouns

I have written before about how Japanese is a very contextual language. If the context makes it clear you can also sometimes use は.

For words where there is only one possibility, は can be used even before introducing the topic. For example, if I am talking about a country, the moon, or a specific person.

日本にほんは山やまの多おおい国くにです
Japan is a country of many mountains

月つきは綺麗きれいです
The moon is beautiful

The reason is that if there is something that is unique and general knowledge it can be considered part of the hearer’s knowledge.

Generic Things

When you are talking about the characteristics of things in general you can also use は. In this way, you are not talking about one thing but instead all things in a specific category. Either way, in both cases, what you are talking about is part of the hearer’s knowledge so you can use は.

車くるまはこの世よにとって欠かかせないものです
Cars are an indispensable part of this world

Using は for Contrasting and Comparing

は can also be used to compare and contrast things.

Contrasting and Emphasising

There are some sentences in Japanese where you can add は or leave it out. Take a look below to see what I mean:

今日きょうサラダを食たべるつもりです
I intend on eating salad today.

今日はサラダを食べるつもりです
I intend on eating salad today. (Not tomorrow)

今日サラダは食べるつもりです
I intend on (at least) eating salad today.
(Meaning, I am not going to eat any other healthy foods but at least I will eat a salad to be healthy)

In all three sentences, the meaning is the same. The difference is that は shows up to emphasize a specific word in the sentence. By emphasizing that word it contrasts it with other possible words, not in the sentence. So, by emphasizing today we are comparing it with tomorrow, yesterday, or just not today. In the same way, emphasizing salad contrasts it with other possible food choices.

Comparing Things

Another way to think of contrasting something is to think of comparing it with something else. In the previous example, we were comparing today’s salad with unknown things. Japanese also has a way to compare things explicitly. So, let’s do just that with the sentences in the last section:

今日はサラダを、明日あしたはハンバーガーを食べる
I intend on eating salad today and hamburgers tomorrow

今日サラダは食べるつもりですが、スープは食べるつもりはない
I intend on eating salad today but not soup